Jackie Baillie has indicated her support for teachers on strike across West Dunbartonshire.

The Dumbarton constituency MSP has blamed the Scottish Government for failing to get a handle on public pay negotiations causing mass walkouts.

Members of the EIS walked out today with further strikes due to take place tomorrow. Schools in West Dunbartonshire will again close on Thursday, January 26^th unless talks progress in the meantime.

Jackie Baillie, Dumbarton constituency MSP, said: “This strike and others which are upcoming are set to cause chaos for parents and disrupt education for pupils. No-one, including the teachers, want this to go ahead.

“The blame for these strikes lies squarely with the Scottish Government who have badly mishandled the most critical round of public pay negotiations in decades. Money should have been in the budget for public sector pay deals at the start of the budget year. Instead we now have a crisis that is showing no signs of slowing down.

“A deal has to be struck to avoid further strikes. The only way that this is going to be resolved is for the First Minister to come personally to the negotiating table to get a deal done which the government has failed to do so far.”